Cassandra Prince
by hollie-whyte
Summary: James Potter's little sister has made a whole wealth of bad decisions in her life, but what happened to her to make things start to fall apart? This is her story, the story of Cassandra Prince, written in her own words. What will happen when she finds the father she's been searching for? How does she link James to one of the people he hates the most at Hogwarts? Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

My name is Cassandra Prince and I am the younger sister of James Potter. A lot of things have happened in the last few years I feel that I need to explain the part I played in them and why I did some of the things that I did.

I was adopted by the Potters after they were contacted by a muggle hospital that had them listed as my next of kin, they weren't actually any relation to me but my mother thought they would raise me well and as if I was their own daughter. She'd heard somewhere that they were trying, unsuccessfully, for a child and thought they would be happy to take in a new born baby girl. It must have been a while before I was born that she'd heard that though because by the time they were contacted they already had a one year old son, his name was James. They took me in anyway though and all three of them were excited to have another baby; they were an older couple and didn't think another baby would be an option for them.

I've been told that in the week while they were waiting for the muggle paperwork to go through the system Rachel and Daniel couldn't get James to sit still or stop babbling about 'Cassa', he was only a year old and hadn't mastered speech yet and Cassandra was too hard for him. He'd been excited to have a playmate.

We grew up as the best of friends, we each hand other children we were friends with but we would always just play with each other if we were given the choice. I remember crying so hard when Rachel told me James would be going off to Hogwarts at the end of the summer, I couldn't wrap my head around the concept that James would be going somewhere that I couldn't follow him to.

Of course, he'd promised to write and for the first month I got four or sometimes five letters a week from him but he started to make friends and stopped writing as much. Rachel worried about how miserable I'd become without him and started taking me to her Society Luncheons and High Teas where there were other girls my age but it didn't help. I wanted James back.

It's strange to think back to that time; to remember that there was once a time when my whole world revolved around James and waiting for him to come home for holidays. It's even stranger to remember a time when we weren't sure if I was going to be joining him at Hogwarts, Rachel and Daniel sat me down and explained to me that because it had been a muggle hospital that I came from they had no way of knowing if I was going to be a witch or not. I didn't understand what that meant until they explained that I wouldn't be able to go with James if I was a muggle.

At the end of the next summer, when my Hogwarts letter arrived, James and I ran around the house shouting and screaming and Rachel was so happy that she didn't scold me for not acting in the way a young lady should. Once we'd calmed down enough Rachel ushered us to the fireplace so we could go and get all our school things.

While we were at Diagon Alley James' best friend Sirius Black saw us and came bounding over in the way that he always did, he greeted James in the way you would expect a brother to be greeted after a long separation. When he noticed me standing slightly off to the side behind them he grinned and ruffled my hair, I glared at him while I tried in vain to flatten my hair back down, "As soon as I get my wand I will kill you Black!" both of them hooted with laughter at my words, Sirius' bark of laughter had drawn the attention of an older woman who had been chatting with a friend across the street from where we were, her eyes narrowed as she saw the three of us and she stalked over to where we were standing.

"Come Sirius, as a Black you shouldn't be seen associating with the likes of these. A blood traitor though you are, you needn't be quite so public about your affiliation with these people." She grabbed Sirius by the wrist and dragged him away from us; he turned back with a sad look in his eyes and mouthed the word 'sorry' at us. James looked angry because his friend had been dragged away, though in hindsight it was probably more because of what she'd said and what she'd called us. I didn't understand though; as far as I knew I'd never betrayed anyone, except for telling on James for doing something stupid but I had the strangest feeling that wasn't what she meant.

I looked up into James' face and when he turned to me he had the same sad look that Sirius had had, "Jamie? What did she mean? I've never betrayed anyone, how can I be a traitor?" James sighed and took my hand to lead me to Madame Malkin's for my school robes.

When we got home James and I went up to my room; I wanted to start putting my school things into my new trunk, not caring that we still had almost a month until we were leaving. James told me he wanted to talk to me and he looked so serious I just nodded and let him follow me up the stairs. We were sitting on my bedroom floor and James took a deep breath, "Its kind of hard to explain Cass, she wasn't really talking about you and me; it was more aimed at mum and dad and centuries of Potters before us. We're purebloods, you know what that means?" I nodded but didn't say anything, "Well the Blacks are purebloods as well but they think that it makes them better than people who aren't, they don't think that muggle borns should be allowed to go to Hogwarts and they don't like to talk to them, other than to insult them or make them feel bad.

"She called us blood traitors because we don't think like that, we think that everyone with magic should be allowed to learn to control it and that it really doesn't make much of a difference where you come from. If she'd ever met Lily I bet she would rethink her beliefs, Lily is the smartest, best witch at school and she's a muggle born." I rolled my eyes with a small smile; I'd heard all about Lily Evans and how amazing she was, he noticed and stuck his tongue out at me,

"But why did she call Sirius a blood traitor? He's her son so surely he thinks the same as her?" James' shook his head,

"Sirius is nothing like the rest of his family! That's why his mum doesn't like him too much.. you remember what I told you about the houses at Hogwarts?" Again, I nodded but didn't speak, "Well Sirius' whole family has been in Slytherin for generations but when Sirius was sorted he was put in Gryffindor and his parents weren't happy about that. His whole family are Slytherins and Sirius hates the lot of them for how they think." I couldn't believe that people could think like that, I figured that since we were all witches and wizards we would all be the same. I could have understood if he told me that they considered themselves to be better than muggles, we had magic and they didn't, but other witches and wizards? That just didn't make sense to me.

I also couldn't understand how Sirius could hate his whole family just for not agreeing with his opinions about some things. I had always known I was adopted and loved the Potters as if they really were my parents but I would've done anything to know who my real parents were. James seemed to realise that I was lost in thought and he stood up to leave, giving me a kiss goodnight as he passed me.

I was glad that James had explained that to me, I didn't want to arrive at Hogwarts without knowing things like that; things that seemed to be important to how things would work at school. He'd already told me all about the houses and explained that Gryffindor was the best house to be in and that he would be really disappointed if I didn't go to his house, but that he would just about be able to stand having a sister in Ravenclaw or even Hufflepuff; anything but Slytherin.

I don't think I could have been any more excited as I stood in line waiting for Professor McGonagall to call my name so I would be sorted, I had only been in the school for about half an hour and I already knew I was going to love it there. "Prince, Cassandra." I smiled at the sound of my name being called, it made me think that it almost sounded like someone calling royalty forward but of course, I would be princess rather than a prince. I didn't realise that I'd been standing considering this until my name was called again, my face turned beat red and I shuffled forward to take my place on the stool, I glared at Sirius and James just before the hat slipped over my eyes; I knew their laughs anywhere.

_Now, you are a tricky one; you have a thirst for knowledge about the school and magic itself, you also have a need to prove yourself, plenty of ambition, also plenty of courage. You're a tough one; but I think you would do best in _**_SLYTHERIN_**_._

I felt the blood drain from my face, I was one of the bad ones; James had told me that Slytherin was full of dark wizards and pureblood supremacists. Professor McGonagall whisked the hat off my head and gestured me towards the table where the students were clad in green and silver, I stared at my feet as I made my way there not daring to look up for fear of seeing the hatred and disappointment in James and Sirius' faces.

I didn't eat anything at that feast; my stomach was turning over and over. The people around me a the table were sitting and talking quietly, I longed to be over at the loud and boisterous Gryffindor table where everyone looked so excited to just be there and they were already making fast friends with each other, making friends at the Slytherin table seemed to have a lot to do with who your parents were and it was all a lot more calculating than the loud chatter from the Gryffindor table.

One girl turned to me; she looked like she was a few years older than me. She had heavily lidded eyes and a mass of dark hair surrounding her head, "What's your name?"

"Cassandra Prince. What's yours?" There was a boy sitting a little further away whose head popped up when I spoke but the boy sitting next to her snorted in amusement and drew my attention back to the two opposite me, the girl elbowed him and sent me an almost sickly smile which looked slightly terrifying on her face,

"I'm Bellatrix Black, daughter of Druella and Cygnus Black. Who are your parents?" I looked down at my plate of untouched food,

"Daniel and Rachel Potter." There were frowns on every face, apart from Bellatrix's; she was wearing a sneer on hers.

"Liar, they aren't your _parents_. They adopted you because no one else wanted you. Who are you parents? We make it a rule to know who we're associating ourselves with here in Slytherin." I didn't get a chance to respond, which I was grateful for; I didn't know what to say. The plates and dishes had all disappeared from the table and Professor Dumbledore stood and dismissed us.

I was glad the feast was finally over and I pushed through the throngs of people and made it to James and Sirius before they got out of the Great Hall, "James! Wait; just let me talk to you!" James stopped and his shoulders stooped, Sirius turned to me with a cold look on his face,

"What do you want Prince? Even though I'd been expecting the coolness in his voice it still made me flinch back a little,

"I'm sorry; it wasn't my fault, I didn't want to get into Slytherin. I don't want to be in Slytherin, I want to be in Gryffindor with you, James!" but James still wasn't even looking at me; it was Sirius who spoke again,

"You clearly didn't want it enough. The hat would have put you in Gryffindor if you'd really wanted it." He turned his back on me and he and James started to walk away but one of their friends stopped them,

"She's your little sister James, she may as well be yours too Sirius. How can you act like this towards her?"

"She lied to me. She said she wanted to be in Gryffindor but look where she ended up. They all lied; her, Regulus and Andromeda. They've all spent all this time telling me what I want to hear but it was all lies."

"Why do you have to be so disappointed in us though?" I'd never met these other people but I was willing to bet that if they told him they wanted to be in Gryffindor then they probably did. "Why can't you just get over it? We're in Slytherin, big deal! Why do you both have to be so bloody ignorant?" James span around and pulled his wand out, I stumbled backwards in surprise. The girl who was standing behind me turned around and steadied me, she surveyed the scene until her eyes landed on James and she narrowed them,

"Potter what on earth are you doing? She's a first year! Lower your wand." I looked at her properly; she had long red hair and bright green eyes, this was Lily Evans.

"She's a Slytherin, Evans. You should have let her fall on her arse. She is no sister of mine." A look of confusion crossed her face,

"Sister? I didn't notice them called a Potter." I made a decision in that instant and shrugged out of the grip she still had on my shoulders,

"Get off me, Mudblood. You'll get my robes dirty." I wished I hadn't said it as soon as the words left my mouth but it was too late. James and Sirius both had their wands pointed at my face. I glanced back at Lily and saw that her eyes were wide with shock at what I'd said to her even after she'd defended me.

"Apologise Prince." I had to stick by my decision, and just gave him a look that said 'make me', "I SAID APOLOGISE!"

"YEAH AND I HEARD YOU!" Lily spoke quietly,

"Just leave it James, it isn't worth it. I'm used to it from the others." But James shook his head,

"That doesn't make it okay for them to say these things, especially not her." The amount of hatred spilling off James almost made me flinch but I managed to hold my ground this time, I narrowed my eyes at the boys,

"Are you idiots going to use your wands? Or are they just for show?" Sirius sighed and lowered his wand and I smirked at him before turning to James, but he didn't lower his and before I could react at all he'd sent the full body bind my way and I was falling to the ground with a small thud.

It wasn't long before I saw Professor Dumbledore standing over me, "All of you to your dormitories, now." James, Sirius and his friends turned to leave, "Not you four, and Miss Evans if you wouldn't mind waiting as well." I noticed Lily nodding and moving back to her place next to the boys. He waved a hand and I was released from the hex, Lily offered me her hand but I pretended like I didn't noticed and pushed myself to my feet. "Now Mr Potter, why did you hex Miss Prince?" James looked at his feet as he answered,

"She called Lily a mudblood and wouldn't apologise." Professor Dumbledore nodded,

"That is no reason to hex a first year Mr Potter, see that it doesn't happen again. You five are dismissed. Miss Prince, I think we need to have a little conversation, wouldn't you agree?" There was no response I could give him other than to nod and sit in the armchair he conjured for me. "Now, why did you call Miss Evans such a horrid name?"

"Because Ja- Potter and Black were ignoring me and they don't want to know me anymore. I had to show them that I didn't care anymore. I'll apologise to Lily though, I didn't mean it. She seems really nice actually."

"What did Mr Potter say to make you think he doesn't want to know you anymore?" I looked down at my hands in my lap,

"He said I'm no sister of his anymore. He hates me now."

"I see, well I do not condone what you said but I believe you that you didn't mean it and I have faith in you that it won't be happening again so you're free to do. Make sure you do apologise to Miss Evans though." I nodded and made my way down to the dungeons.

It felt like I'd been walking for about an hour before I gave up and slumped down against a wall, I had no idea where the entrance to the common room was and no one else was out so there was no one to ask. My first night at Hogwarts was not turning out how I'd been expecting it to; I didn't get into Gryffindor, James and Sirius hated me and I was cold and lost in the dark with no clue how to even find my way back to the entrance hall.

"Are you lost?" it was the boy who'd been sitting at the Slytherin table, the one who looked up when I told Bellatrix my name. I nodded and he stretched out a hand to pull me to my feet, "I thought so." We walked in silence for a while before he spoke again, "So you're Potter's sister?" I shook my head and he got that confused look I was so used to seeing,

"I used to be but not anymore." We arrived at a portion of the wall between two statues and the boy said the word 'pure' and the wall moved aside to let us into the common room. He went straight down some more stairs, probably to the dormitories, but I flopped down onto one of the couches in front of the fire; I wanted to warm up a bit before going to bed.

"Are you okay?" The voice came from the other end of the couch where I hadn't noticed the other girl sitting; she looked like she'd been crying,

"Yes thank you." She looked at me in a disbelieving way, "I'm fine, really." The girl shook her head and smiled a little sadly,

"I wouldn't worry about my cousin too much, he's a little stubborn but I'm sure he'll come around. I'm really hoping he will. I'm Andromeda Black by the way, Sirius' cousin."

"Did he used to be your friend too? He used to be my friend but I don't think it'll be the same anymore. I'm a Slytherin now." I couldn't stand it anymore so I fled down the stairs and found my bed and cried myself to sleep.

A few weeks later I got to breakfast early, there were only a few people spread across the four tables, I sat so that I could see the Gryffindor table. I was waiting to speak to Lily, I'd been meaning to apologise to her since my first night but James and Sirius always seemed to be around and they wouldn't let me near her. I knew she would be at breakfast early though, she always did on weekends and I also knew that James and Sirius wouldn't be around; they both slept like logs at the weekend and didn't wake up until early afternoon.

However, that morning the fates were, once again, against me and there they were; sitting at the Gryffindor table with their heads close together whispering about something, planning something. They kept glancing up at a group of Slytherins a little bit further up the table; I knew they would be the victims for whatever the two Gryffindors were planning. The group consisted of Bellatrix and Regulus Black, Rudolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Crabbe, Goyle, Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. She looked back at the Gryffindor table and sure enough they had both started to grin and had their wands out under the table.

I didn't really think about it; I stood up and made my way over to where the group was sitting, I could feel James and Sirius' eyes on me as I moved, "Erm, excuse me?" Bellatrix looked up from her breakfast and a sneer crossed her face,

"What do you want? You were the one who was sad about my blood traitor cousin and his little pal being mean to you aren't you." I nodded, "So, what d'you want?"

"I just wanted to tell you that Black and Potter are just about to prank you." They all shared and look and seemed to decide it was probably true, they all moved almost in tandem as they pulled their wands out. The older ones must have been taught silent wand work because suddenly, without any warning the two boys were sprouting silver and green hair all over their bodies and whenever either would open their mouths all they could do was pronounce their love for what or who ever happened to be closest to them at the time.

The Slytherin table all simultaneously burst into laughter, myself included, but as soon as I saw the look on James' face I stopped and made my way out onto the grounds. He looked so hurt and betrayed. Suddenly my decision not to care seemed pointless, there was no way I would ever be able to stop caring what he thought about me. I hated knowing that we were never going to be as close as we were before I started at Hogwarts; there was a part of me that wished I'd never gotten my letter. I sat down on a big rock at the edge of the lake and made sure there was no one around before I started to cry, but I didn't dare make a noise in case someone did happen to come out here. I didn't want anyone to know that he could still hurt me.

My head was resting on my knees so I didn't notice when someone came and sat down next to me until she spoke, "Cassandra?" I looked up to see the face of Lily Evans looking down at me with what could only have been concern in her eyes, "I'm so sorry about Potter, he's such an arse."

"No he isn't and you can't say that about him! You've never given him a chance so how would you know anything about him? He's probably one of the nicest, most caring people you've ever met but you won't admit it because you're too proud to admit your first instinct about him was wrong!" I could see that she was confused, she must have thought she'd found an ally in her 'I hate James Potter club' and she obviously didn't understand why I would still be defending him.

"You might be right about me not knowing him very well but he is not the nicest person I've ever met, the nicest person I've ever met was the boy who was there for me when my sister was calling me a freak. Not some bully who'll pick on anyone he pleases because he thinks he can get away with it. The nicest person I've met since I became aware of the wizarding world is a Slytherin so all of your arguments about having to be horrid because you're a Slytherin now are invalid!"

"I don't need your wise words about Slytherins being nice people, for the most part you're wrong but I have made a few friends and I know they aren't all awful people. Why don't you tell Potter and Black, they're the ones who decided to hate me because I got into Slytherin" I got up and started to leave but figured that while she was there I may as well say what else was on my mind, "and tell Black that Andromeda doesn't believe in the same things as the rest of their family, it isn't fair of him to treat any of us the way he has been but it's affecting her the worst. Oh, and I'm sorry about what I said the other night, I just didn't know what to do so I acted in the way that James was expecting me to, the way that he said all Slytherins do. I didn't mean it though, I've never thought like that and I never will." With that I turned and walked away from her and never spoke to the girl again.

**For those of you who are reading ****_Riley's Boy_****, I'm sorry for the wait but I'm having a bit of trouble concentrating enough to get the next chapter written for various reasons but I hope you've enjoyed (or at least made it to the end of) the first chapter of my new story. Thanks for reading and a review would be lovely.. just something to let me know if this is a story you'd like to see more of.. **

**Hollie. **


	2. Chapter 2

Five years later during the Christmas holiday of my sixth year things started to get interesting, it didn't start in the best way; I was down in the basement of the Potter house hiding from James, Sirius and Peter, I'd made some comment at breakfast and now they wanted to hex me for it or something. I wouldn't usually have been hiding from them but Sirius had just turned seventeen a few days earlier and being that I was only sixteen I was now at a severe disadvantage as I still couldn't use magic against them. "Come on you little snake, where are you hiding?" as far as I could tell they were just on the other side of the door leading down here, I moved further into the basement and hid behind a big pile of boxes.

"I wish Remus was here." I muttered under my breath but regretted it immediately when Sirius happily announced that he'd heard me,

"Come on James, she's down here." I heard him pounding down the stairs and shrunk further back into my corner, as I put my hand down on the ground to steady myself I felt something brush against my fingers and had to stifle the scream that tried to work its way out of my mouth. I'd never seen a rat as big as that before.

"She's back there in the corner behind those big boxes, James." My mouth dropped open; it was like he could just see through the boxes, there was no other way he would have known where I was.

"I don't know, no one ever comes down here, it gives me the creeps." I rolled my eyes at the 'brave Gryffindors' not wanting to venture into the dark basement, "Let's just leave her down here, maybe she won't come out… ever." _Charming._ I could hear them moving closer to my corner, James was grumbling so I assumed he was following the other two rather reluctantly. I realised that it would be better if I caught them off guard rather than them all coming to stand over me as I hid there in the corner. I stood up and laughed at the all jumped, startled.

"So boys what are you going to do this time? Full body bind again Potter? That's the last time you actually managed to get me; on my first night of Hogwarts, before I'd actually learnt any magic. I suppose attacking a defenceless first year isn't as bad as chickening out of attacking a defenceless first year, right Black? Is that what's going to happen again? Or have you actually grown some balls since then?" They both looked really rather angry,

"LEVICORPUS!" I smiled as I deflected it with a hand,

"Nice try, Potter. But I'm not that little first year anymore; I have developed some tricks of my own." They both scowled at me and Sirius raised his wand this time but the fun was interrupted by Rachel,

"Boys, what're you three doing down here?" She came into view, "Oh, I thought you were still in your bedroom Cassandra dear." I forced myself to smile, Rachel had been different with my since my sorting as well but she pretended that it didn't bother her and to be honest that just made things even more frustrating because at least with the boys I knew where I stood.

"Don't worry about it, the boys were just playing one of their favourite games; 'Hunt the Slytherin'." The boys were glaring even more now but they had had the sense to put their wands away when Rachel came into the basement.

I pushed between James and Sirius and went up to my bedroom, slamming the door and activating the silencing charm I'd put over the room. The Potter's hated it but it meant I could play my music as loud as I wanted without having to deal with all of them complaining about it, it did mean that Rachel or Daniel had to come and get me for dinner rather than just shouting up the stairs but that was the only time they really bothered to try to get my attention.

I had started to dance around my room, something that always helped me to work myself out of bad moods when I was interrupted, "Hey Remus, how's your holiday been?" the boy sighed as I turned around to face him,

"Just once I'd like to surprise you." He'd discovered during one of his early visits that it was very difficult to actually sneak up on me, "It's like you're always a step ahead of everyone." Well that wasn't true, I was just a step ahead of those four; they were much too predictable.

"It's not that hard to work out who's visiting me up here, if it was one of my friends Rachel would make them wait in the sitting room rather than letting them wander up through the house; there's nothing worse than a Slytherin loose around the house." Remus sighed again; it was something he did a lot when we spoke,

"You know that isn't why she does that, she does it to James' friends too." I raised an eyebrow at him and snorted a little, and he flushed, "Well, not us but she knows us."

"She could know my friends too if they weren't worried about how they would be treated here and considering how James and Sirius treat me at school I'm not exactly surprised they feel that way. Not to mention that one of them is Sirius' brother, one of them is his cousin, both of whom he has barely spoken to since we started at Hogwarts, despite the fact that I know he's forgiven both of them! Oh, and the only other person who would visit me has been relentlessly bullied by the lot of you since your first year so he isn't very likely to come on over to their territory. So, that's my secret of how you aren't able to sneak up on me, Remus. Because no one else comes to talk to me." Remus was frowning again; he does that a lot when we speak as well,

"I don't bully Snape." I rolled my eyes at him,

"But you let them get away with it, you don't do anything to stop them and that's just as bad."

"If you would just go back to the way you were before Hogwarts everything would change around here. James and Sirius would forgive you, and I'm sure Rachel and Daniel would go back to treating you how they used to." I narrowed my eyes at Remus,

"I shouldn't have to act like someone I'm not just to be accepted here." Remus raised an eyebrow at me,

"Isn't that exactly what you did in your first year? You changed who you were to fit in with the other Slytherins, or at least that's how you explained it to me."

"That was different, I had to change. James and Sirius already hated me from the moment the hat put me in Slytherin, there was nothing I could have done about that, but the other Slytherins hadn't finished judging me yet; I still had time to be accepted by them." I'd been angry at the beginning of my speech but by the end of it even I could hear the tears in my voice, I went and stared out of the window while I got a hold of myself again. I turned back to the room when I heard James' voice from the doorway,

"That isn't true you know. I just needed time to get used to the idea. I didn't start to hate you until you called lily a mudblood, once you did that I figured maybe you really were one of them and I couldn't stand the thought that I'd lost you to _them_. Even after that though, once I'd calmed down enough to listen to what Remus was telling me I realised that I could forgive you; you were my little sister. I was just waiting for you to apologise to her but you never did." I looked at the boy who used to be my brother and the best friend I could have asked for and I felt the tears spring into my eyes,

"I only called her that because you hated me, I could see it in your eyes as soon as I came over to you and Sirius to try to talk to you. You can say I'm wrong all you want but we both know I'm not. You didn't even give me a chance to apologise." I was suddenly exhausted even though it couldn't even have been lunchtime yet. I didn't want to deal with them anymore so I sat down at my desk and pulled a piece of parchment towards me and pretended to start writing one of my essays.

Once they left I went and set a locking charm over my door, after I was sure they wouldn't be able to get back in I sat down on my floor and cried. At some point Rachel came up to tell me dinner was ready but I ignored her and stayed in my room, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was waking up with a stiff neck, a pounding headache and a growling stomach.

It took me a minute to realise that the pounding in my head was actually being caused by a light tapping on my window, I stood and grinned as I recognised the owl waiting to be let in, I practically flew to the window to let it in. it hopped down onto my desk and gave me a reproachful nip on my hand; Regulus must have sent him a while ago. He settled down to wait for my reply to the letter I'd taken from her leg.

_Dear Cassie, _

_I am writing to inform you that you are cordially invited to the Black Family's Christmas Ball. It will be held on the 25__th__ December at number 12 Grimmauld Place, please arrive by five o'clock at the latest. _

_Oh, could you also let Sirius know that he is also invited? We may have made peace but he still seems to be wary of accepting my letters. I doubt he'll come but could you let him know for me? _

I was pleased that Regulus and Sirius had made up, he's also made peace with Andromeda; I was the only one left who he couldn't find it in himself to forgive for winding up in Slytherin.

_Would it also be possible for you to write to Andromeda? She isn't speaking to anyone in the family because of something to do with someone called Ted; she won't even speak to me. I offered to try and get Sirius for her but she didn't want him either; she said none of us would understand so I think it must be a girl thing. Don't even suggest that she try to speak to one of her sisters, you know exactly how much help they'd be._

_Thank you so much Cassie, I don't know what I would do without you._

_Love Regulus_

My thoughts about the ball and my concerns about Andromeda were interrupted by the sound of Sirius in my doorway, I frowned at the fact that he'd gotten through my locking charm but, I reasoned with myself, I had attempted to do it without my was so it wasn't likely to last very long. "Don't worry Remus, she's still alive… unfortunately." I really was having a hard time understanding what girls found so charming about Sirius Black.

"Was there something you wanted Black? Or do you just enjoy breaking into peoples' bedrooms?" He sneered at me, until he noticed the owl sitting on my desk,

"Did you get a letter from Regulus?" I nodded and narrowed my eyes at him,

"Why? Is that a problem? That he's writing to me but not to you?" He glared at me,

"Why would that be a problem? I wouldn't' want to talk to the little Death Eater wannabe anyway." I smiled at him and shook my head a little,

"Yeah, okay then. He told me you guys made up, but if you want to keep on pretending to hate him then be my guest. He asked me to tell you that you are, once again, invited to the Christmas Ball. He said that he had to ask me to tell you because even though you've made up with him and forgiven him you still won't open his letters." He looked a little ashamed of himself, which is why I decided not to tell him about Andromeda, that would either made him angry or send him off to the Black house, and that wouldn't end well for anyone; better that he go away thinking about the Regulus situation.

"Tell him that I'll be attending." My mouth dropped open with the shock of what he'd said, he hadn't been to the Christmas Ball since he'd been in first year, after that his parents asked him to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday; to avoid any more embarrassments.

"But you never… okay, I'll tell him. Oh, you'll need a date and dress robes." Sirius nodded and left the room, leaving the door standing wide open despite the fact that it had been locked before he came into the room. I went to close the door, grumbling under my breath about people not knowing how to shut doors anymore. I sat back at my desk to write a reply to Regulus,

_Dear Reggie, _

_Of course I'll be there, when have I ever missed it? A night in the company of your parents and cousins… can't wait! I'll be there at three and I assume you know that I won't be bringing a date this year; it's much more fun to be able to mingle._

_I told Sirius that he's invited and, to my great surprise, he didn't try to hex me or sneer at me for talking to you like he usually does; he just calmly agreed to go. The idiot did leave my, previously locked, bedroom door standing wide open though. Don't you think it's a bit unfair that if I leave a door open in this house I run the risk of being hexed but if they do it I have to settle for some extremely quiet ranting? _

_What makes you think that Andy will talk to me? If she's pissed then nothing I say will help, you know about my affinity for always saying the wrong things and making situations about ten times worse. _

_See you on the 25__th_

_Love Cass_

I sealed the letter and sent the owl back on its way to Grimmauld Place, once I'd watched it out of sight I started preparing for the day of retail therapy I was going to force upon Andromeda. My annoyance at the boys bubbled back up again when I stepped into the shower to find that there was no hot water. I quickly got myself ready, pulling my waist length black hair up into a messy ponytail; I couldn't use my usual hair charms on it when I wasn't at school and this was the easiest solution.

I went and grabbed an apple from the kitchen, "Where do you think you're going?" I was just about to step into the fireplace when I heard James' voice behind me and jumped about a foot into the air, "I don't know why Remus says it's so hard to startle you... I've never found it to be that difficult." I glared at him,

"I'm going out. Why does it matter to you where I'm going? It's not like you actually care anymore is it?" James looked maybe slightly guilty but I shrugged it off and stepped into the flames whispering,

"The House of Black."

I stepped out onto a mat at the other end, it was like a doormat where visitors could shake the soot off their clothes without making a mess of the carpet, I'd never understood why more people didn't have them; surely it was a lot easier to clean that a carpet. "Ah, young Cassandra Prince. How lovely to see you again. If you don't mind my asking, what exactly are you doing here?"

"Regulus wrote to me and told me that Andromeda hasn't been talking to anyone and he seemed to think that I would be able to help with that, but I don't see why she would want to talk to me; I always seem to make things worse." Bellatrix smiled a small smile but it was the kind of smile that sent a shiver of fear up my spine.

"Go on up then. But I don't see why anyone would want to talk to you about anything." I knew it was a dig at me but I'd learned that it was best to just ignore these things when it came to Bellatrix. I knocked on Andromeda's door, still fairly certain she wasn't going to want to talk to me; I was right, I was promptly told to 'bugger off' but I ignored it. I unlocked her door and went inside, she looked shocked that someone had actually made it into her room and she only looked a little bit disappointed to see me but I tried not to take that personally.

"Reg wrote to me telling me that you were upset but didn't want to talk to anyone about it; he thought I would be able to help." I waited for Andy to say something but when she didn't I just carried on, "But if you don't want to talk right now, you can talk while she shop for dresses for this Ball that's coming up. I find that retail therapy can help any problem." When she still didn't speak or move I leaned closer and whispered to her, "I'll even buy you an ice cream." Andy grinned at me and went to shower and get ready. About half an hour later we were flooing to Diagon Alley, once we'd been to Gringott's and weighted our purses down with gold we headed for Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions to start our quest for dresses.

**AN: sorry about the wait, but I've been busy with uni work and real-life things.. I'm hoping that there are some people out there reading this and if you are then feel free to leave a review letting me know what you think so far. **

**Hollie. **


	3. Chapter 3

Madam Malkin welcomed us into the shop personally when she saw who we were; the Black women were well known, to the shopkeepers of Diagon Alley, for having wicked tempers when they didn't feel that they were being treated with the proper respect. She actually sighed with relief when she saw that it was just Andromeda and I; that Druella wasn't with us and she told us to come and find her if we needed anything.

We spent about half an hour looking through the dresses before I found the perfect one, it was a strapless floor length dress with a sweetheart neckline, it was white based but had a swirling red pattern going up the dress it almost looked like flames and it was absolutely beautiful. It was exactly the sort of thing I'd been hoping to find. Once I'd tried it on I knew I was going to get that one, there was no question; I didn't even want to look at another dress.

Andy wasn't having such an easy time of it, she had a very specific thing in mind but there wasn't anything that was just right for her, although she did try on a handful of absolutely stunning dresses. I could see Madam Malkin starting to get a bit worried that Andy wouldn't find anything; if that got back to Druella it was a sure thing that Madam Malkin would be ousted from her shop before closing time. Andromeda's mood wasn't improving like I'd hoped it would, I'd been right in assuming anything I tried would make things worse not better. I made my way over to where Madam Malkin was standing watching Andromeda and wringing her hands together, "Madam, are you sure you don't have anything in the back? I need her to find a dress just as badly as you do." She looked doubtfully at me but then a light sprang into her eyes,

"I just might have something. Wait here." I nodded and she rushed into her back room, she came back carrying what looked like a hopeful dress, "I just put the finishing touches on it this morning, can't believe I forgot about it." She held it up for Andromeda to see and the girl immediately fell in love with it, she'd been looking for something simple and classic but with a bit of a pop to it, this was just what she was looking for; it was a black floor length number with a think silver band around the waist, the silver band was decorated with black lace and beads.

Shoes didn't take quite as long as we were both wearing floor length dresses; I went for simple white stilettoes while Andromeda went for a black pair. We both already accessories at home so after the dresses and shoes were paid for we were both ready for a break. Of course, Andromeda didn't forget my promise for ice cream, Florean Fortesque was surprised to see us, "I'm happy for the business girls, but isn't it a bit chilly for ice cream?" I smiled at the old man,

"Sometimes you just need an ice cream though." Florean laughed,

"That's true enough, what'll it be?"

"We'll have two hot fudge sundaes."

"At least you've got some sense. I'll bring them over, I'm not busy." By the time we were ready to head back to the House of Black we were both tired out, after the ice cream we'd wandered around the shops and Andy had explained about Ted; I'd known that she'd been seeing him but it had suddenly hit her when he declined her invite to the Ball that she couldn't be with him because he was a muggle born. I wasn't sure what I could say, she was right; if she was with him she'd be disowned by her family but if she didn't stand up to them and choose her own future then she wouldn't be happy and her mother would marry her off to some pureblood supremacist. Neither of these were particularly attractive options for her.

Andromeda invited me to stay for dinner; Walburga, Orion and Regulus were going to be there and she knew that Regulus would want to see me and that since there was already company Druella would be more willing to have me stay. It was a better night than I'd been expecting; we were allowed to sit in the kitchen because the adults wanted to discuss Bellatrix's upcoming engagement announcement, which would be made at the Ball. Narcissa declined our invitation to sit with us, preferring to be in the company of her oldest sister to myself and Andy.

Once we were finished we headed up to Andromeda's room and talked until the early hours of the morning, we didn't realise how tired we all were until Druella came up to tell Regulus his parents were heading home and it was time that I did the same, usually Andromeda would have argued and asked to have us stay the night but we were all too exhausted. "I know why I'm so tired but what's your excuse?" I asked as we were heading back to the fireplace, Regulus looked up to check to see where Druella was, seeing that she was far enough ahead that she wouldn't overhear,

"Mother's asked Father to teach me occlumency; apparently we're going to be having a certain Dark Lord to stay and she doesn't want him to know too much about Sirius before we're accepted." I stopped in my tracks,

"Accepted? What d'you mean?" Regulus had grab my arm to pull me along with him so we'd continue to go unheard,

"What do you think I mean Cassie? Mother's been trying to get Father to agree to an audience with the Dark Lord since she heard of his plans; she wants us to be accepted into his following. It's very exclusive; only the best families are allowed in." My stomach plummeted, I'd heard all about the Dark Lord from Daniel and Rachel and I didn't want Regulus, or anyone I knew, getting involved with him or his plans. "What's wrong?" I just shook my head,

"Nothing, Reggie. I'll see you on the 25th." I gave him a hug goodbye and stepped into the floo to get home, I must have been more tired than I'd thought because I didn't stop at the other end with my usual grace; I tumbled out of the hearth and straight into the legs of Daniel Potter, "Oh, what's you doing up? I thought you had to work in the morning?"

"I do. I've been waiting for you to get home. What time d'you call this exactly? Rolling in at this time of night." I couldn't help but smile at that, he'd unintentionally made a pun seeing as I had literally rolled in to the house, I wasn't quick enough to conceal it though; he noticed. "What're you smiling about? We were worried sick about you. The boys have been out looking for you for over two hours now."

"Why? They don't' usually care when I don't come out of my room, in fact they seem to like that I spend most of my time in there."

"They went because your mother asked them to when James told us that you went out this morning without telling anyone where you were going or when you would be back." I rolled my eyes at his referring to Rachel as my mother; it wasn't a secret that I wasn't theirs,

"I bet you didn't even notice I was gone before that. I went over to the Black's this morning because Reggie wrote to me inviting me to the Christmas Ball and he told me that Andromeda was upset about something and asked me to talk to her about whatever it was. So I went over and we talked and then we went to Diagon Alley to get dresses and things for the Ball, then we went and had dinner at Black manor and then we talked for a while and I came home. That's it, the whole breakdown of my day, are you happy now?"

"Of course we noticed you were gone, Rachel went up to call you for dinner but you weren't in your room, we waited as long as she could stand before we sent James and the boys looking for you. I only got in a few minutes before you did." I wasn't really sure what to say; I didn't think they'd actually have been worried about me, but instead of sticking around to ponder over it I got up and stormed up to my room, slamming the door behind me.

I'd just gotten into bed when James, Sirius and Remus all burst into my room. Well James and Sirius burst in and Remus looked like he'd been trying to stop them, "What the hell are you doing?" I yanked the covers up to my neck,

"We just got back from Andromeda's, why didn't you just tell me that's where you were going?" I rolled my eyes at them and shimmied down further into my bed,

"Because I didn't think it would matter to you where I was going as long as I wouldn't be in the house. It's not like you've ever cared before."

"I asked you where you were going, that kind of gives the impression that I want to know doesn't it?"

"You didn't exactly put up much of a fight to find out did you? I told you I was going out and you dropped it and let me go. And anyway I didn't ask you to tell your mum and get her all worried about me when I was fine. Before you even say it, I'm not saying that it was your fault; just that it doesn't usually matter." James' mouth opened and closed, he'd obviously been about to argue the point I'd mentioned.

"Why did you go over there anyway? Bellatrix likes you about as much as she likes Sirius."

"Because Reggie wrote to me inviting me to the Christmas Ball and I figured Andy would need something to wear as well. That and Reg told me Andy was upset and refusing to talk to anyone, he asked me to talk to her and I did, now she's talking to everyone again." Sirius looked outraged,

"What didn't anyone tell me about it? She would've spoken to me about the problem." I raised an eyebrow at him,

"How do you know that Regulus didn't tell you in one of the letters you didn't open?" Sirius looked like he was regretting not opening Regulus' letters, which would have been fine; a good thing, if it wasn't for the sadness on his face, for some unknown reason I couldn't stand it. "Not that it would have matter because apparently she didn't want to speak to you either." They seemed to realise there was nothing else to say, I'd just started grumbling about doors being left open and getting out of bed to close it when Remus came back and did it for me,

"Goodnight Cass."

"Night Remus."

The next morning there was another owl at my window, it wasn't one that I recognised but I just assumed it Andromeda using one of the many Black owls, I opened the window and it hopped onto my desk. It flew straight back out of the window without waiting for a response, the only owls I'd ever received that did that were the ones carrying Hogwarts letters.

I shrugged and opened the envelope, as soon as I'd broken the seal I was hit with a smell I recognised from herbology, I dropped the envelope but it was too late; my hands were covered in the goo. My hands started to swell up, covered in the painful boils that Professor Sprout had warned us about in fourth year. My eyes were full of tears almost immediately and I had a good idea who'd sent me the stuff. I opened my bedroom door with a wave of my hand; pleased, not for the first time, that I'd already come so far with wandless magic, and marched straight over to James and Sirius' room (Remus had been offered his own room for when he stayed over and had readily accepted it).

They were sat on the floor playing chess, looking the picture of innocence, or they would have been if playing chess was actually something that they did. The fact that Sirius was trying to conceal his laughter behind his hand wasn't helping their case either. "Think this is funny do you Black?" I flicked my hand and he was thrown off balance, James was on his feet in the next second with his wand in hand,

"That was out of order Prince! You can't just barge into someone else's room and start attacking them!" I let out a derisive laugh,

"No, because you've never done that before have you Potter? You and your pathetic little friends, you all need to get over the fact that I'm in Slytherin. It's been six years so just grow up and get a life that doesn't involve sending me Bubotuber pus in the post! Not to mention insulting and attacking me at every opportunity that happens to present itself!"

We both heard a strange noise coming from the other side of the room; I turned just in time to see Sirius struggling into a sitting position clutching his head in one hand. Unfortunately for me, there was a little blood trickling down his fingers and that was all James needed to see to send me flying through the air, another unfortunate thing is the staircase that happens to be right outside their door so as I went flying out of the room I also went tumbling down the stairs.

I woke up and couldn't hold back the groan of pain that pushed out of my throat, it took a couple of seconds to remember what had happened and then another couple for me to realise that some had moved me to the couch and bandaged my hands. I put a hand to my forehead and found a healthy sized bump, I'm going to claim that this was the reason that Remus actually managed to startle me for the first time in five years of our quasi-friendship. "James didn't mean to knock you down the stairs, he was just angry about Sirius' head." I nodded, it should have hurt me that James would go so far to retaliate for Sirius getting such a small injury but I was a bit past caring by that point.

Remus glanced up at the doorway and stood from his seat next to my hip on the couch, "I'll talk to you later, Cass." I nodded and watch him out of the room, realising what had made him leave, I groaned when Daniel strode into the room,

"Ah, good. You're awake. You can go upstairs and apologise to James and Sirius now; that was a nasty cut you gave him." I groaned, not feeling up to arguing with him yet. I tried to sit up but a wave of nausea washed over me and pushed my back down into the pillows, "Come off it Cassandra, I'm not going to buy it. Get up and go apologise!" I threw a glare up at him,

"I would apologise to them, even if I could stand! I just woke up after being thrown down the stairs and knocked unconscious. Maybe I did hex Black but _they _sent me an envelope full of Bubotuber pus. I'll apologise, but they have to go first!"

"James and Sirius already filled me in on the event of the morning Cassandra, they told me that you burst into their room shouting about a letter and then out of nowhere you threw Sirius against the wall and used a slicing hex on his head. You know how I feel about liars and I will not have you bad-mouthing my son like that! Go. Up. And. Apologise. Now!" I narrowed my eyes and glared up at him again,

"Make me Danny boy. You just make me." I noticed the anger brewing behind his eyes and smirked,

"You go and apologise to those now right now, or you won't be going to the Blacks' at Christmas. I don't know how you can stand to spend time with those people anyway, considering what they did to Sirius." I pushed through the nausea and stood to look Daniel in the eyes,

"You just try and make me apologise to them, and you can't stop me from going to the Blacks'; you aren't my real dad." I started to leave but the dizziness caught me a bit off guard, I turned back to him, "And I can stand to spend time with Reggie and Andy because they've never done anything to anyone, and I can stand the others because I don't believe that Sirius didn't deserve whatever they did to him." The shock of what I'd said registered in his eyes as he looked at me,

"How can you say that?"

"I can say that because he has spent the past five years of my life tormenting and torturing me. My question is; how can you pretend you care about what I do, where I go, who I'm with when you can't even stand me? You don't believed anything I tell you, and yet you think the sun shines out of James and Sirius' arseholes. How can you stand yourself?" With that I let go of the steadying grip I had on the doorframe and slowly made my way up to my bedroom.

I head Rachel's voice just before I closed my door, "Where did she go Dan?"

"She went up to her bedroom just before you came in, I told her to apologise to Sirius but she's refusing. You should have heard the way she spoke to me Rach, what she said. She's out of control; we need to get more drastic with the punishments for her." I heard Rachel sigh,

"Don't go too hard on her, you know how much the boys' behaviour must get to her, they went from her best friends to not speaking to her in a matter of minutes. Now only Remus talks to her and he doesn't do that very often. I know I'm harder on her now too but it has to stop, it isn't fair on her. Eileen Prince left her to us so we would look after her and treat her as we would our own and I think we did that well, until she was sorted into Slytherin. It has to stop Daniel." Daniel didn't say any more after that, I heard the door of his study close and was about to close my own door when I heard a whisper down the hall,

"She's got Rachel convinced. You saw her, she can do wandless magic; probably imperiusing her." I heard the unmistakable sound of a smack and Sirius moaned in pain,

"Careful Moony, I've just been through a major trauma!" I snorted and closed my door.

I sat on my bed for a while, something niggling at the back of my mind that I could place. It took me almost an hour before I had the eureka moment that let me name the niggle as a strange kind of hope that life around here would get better.


	4. Chapter 4

It was just after two o'clock in the morning and I was on my way to the floo, intending on sneaking out to see Reggie for a couple of hours but I noticed that there was light coming from Daniel's study; he'd been in there all day, as far as I knew. I hesitated when I heard voices, I didn't want to listen to them; I didn't care what they had to say but my legs weren't cooperating with what I wanted them to do. "I know you're still trying to work out what to do about the kids but you have work at eight, you need to come up to bed and get some sleep." There was no reply from Daniel and Rachel sighed, "What was your first thought when you sat down in here this morning?"

"That I need to get a new chair; this one keeps breaking." Rachel laughed, and I found myself moving again, not in the right direction though; the floo was in the living room, which was the other way. I stopped and positioned myself so that I could see into the study through the crack in the door; Rachel was sitting in Daniel's lap shaking her head at him,

"That's not what I meant Dan, what were you first instincts about the kids?" he sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder,

"I don't know. I don't understand how they've gotten to his; they were all such good friends when they were younger. Even when James started at Hogwarts, they would write almost every day. James would tell her stories about him and his friends getting into trouble and the pranks they'd been playing on the Slytherins. She used to love to hear about them, especially when they pranked the Slytherins. And keeping that in mind, I don't understand how she ended up there." He looked up at Rachel and she smiled down at him, and I took that as my cue to leave; I didn't want to be around to hear how disappointed they were that I was a Slytherin.

I didn't go to see Reggie, instead I sent him an owl telling him that my head was still pounding from earlier and I didn't think that traversing the floo network would be the best idea. I just went to bed and tried to sleep.

The next morning I woke up earlier than usual, it was only 7:15 and I didn't want to get out of bed; Daniel would still be home and would be ready and waiting with whatever punishment they'd come up with. After about ten minutes of constant tummy-rumbles I realised that I was going to have to get out of bed.

I was surprised when I walked into the dining room for breakfast to see that everyone was sitting around the table, James was grumbling and still looking half asleep and Sirius was picking at the French toast on the serving platter in front of him while Rachel was looking at him with a stern gaze and batting his hands away. Daniel was reading the _Daily Prophet._ I wasn't sure how to react to this and Rachel caught sight of me just before I turned and yet back to bed. "Oh good, you're awake." It was said in a much nicer tone that Daniel had used the morning before, and I nodded, looking at her questioningly and James grumbled,

"Why'd she get to sleep til she woke up but _you_ woke us up?" Daniel put his paper down and answered,

"That would be because she has that damnable silencing charm on her room and couldn't hear us trying to wake her." I sat down in the seat that Rachel motioned to; across from her and next to James, who looked at me with distaste and shuffled his chair farther away from me, which made Sirius snort and Rachel glare at both of them.

"What's going on?"

"We are going to start eating breakfast together as a family, every morning that the three of you are here. You three are going to get up earlier and join your mother and me for breakfast." Sirius and I had very different reactions to Daniel referring to Rachel as our mother; Sirius was clearly ecstatic, you could see it in his face. I wasn't so thrilled though, I wasn't their child and they hadn't treated me like I was for years so I couldn't understand how they could still expect me to see them like that.

Rachel started to dish out the food; there were waffles for James, French toast for Sirius and Daniel, chocolate chip pancakes with syrup for me and blueberry muffins for herself. It must have taken her hours, even with magic. We were all nearly finished; James, Sirius and I having had multiple helpings, which made Rachel frown and Daniel chuckle a little, when he put his knife and fork down and cleared his throat. "Now, about yesterday morning," I knew this hadn't been going to last but I'd been having a nice conversation with Rachel about my dress and things for the ball, it was the first nice conversation we'd had for a while.

James and Sirius exchanged glances and almost identical grins popped up on their faces. "Cassandra, we would like you to take the charms off your bedroom; the silencing charm and whatever else you have on it. You are also not allowed to lock you door for all hours of the day, but I will allow it if you are changing or have a legitimate reason for having it locked. When you go out you are to tell someone where you are going and when you will be back." I was shocked; so shocked that I only just managed to keep my mouth from falling open. I'd been sure they were just going to ground me and not let me go to the ball, "Do you think that's fair Cass?" I nodded; it had been years since he'd called me Cass. I lowered my face so no one would see the smile I couldn't stop from blooming, but I saw Rachel's face from the corner of my eye; she knew I was pleased.

"Thanks for not grounding me." Usually I would have made a comment about how it wouldn't have stopped me going out anyway but I stopped myself and just gave a small smile instead. Daniel nodded and smiled back before turning to look at James and Sirius.

"As for the two of you-" James's eyes opened in shock, they'd never been punished for anything he'd done to me; not by Daniel and Rachel, not even by the professors at Hogwarts. Of course at school I would never tell on them; whatever they did to me I would do my best to just take it in stride. They once hexed me so that I turned up for breakfast with my just my underwear on, everyone knew it had to have been James and Sirius, although James had been absent from breakfast that morning. But when professor McGonagall stopped me and demanded to know what I'd been thinking I'd shrugged and told her I'd been too hot in my robes and she gave me her top robe and a detention and sent me to get dressed. I saw the expression on Sirius' face when I walked past and heard Remus chuckled and tell him I would just get them back for it; he was right and when I did everyone was impressed I'd gotten the marauders and I'd accepted my detention with grace.

Rachel ignored James' reaction to the news that they were being punished as well and continued where Daniel had been cut off, "You two are not to barge into Cassandra's room anymore; you are to knock and wait for permission to enter before doing so. You are not to chase her around the house, you are not to use your wands against her and if you do your father and I will take them away and you will not get them back until your return to school. And the three of you will take turns doing the dishes; one meal a day each starting with you Sirius as you're the oldest. James can do lunch and your father will help Cass with dinner."

"How come she gets help and we don't?"

"Because there will be a lot more to do at dinner time, we aren't going to be making different meals for everybody every day."

Sirius grumbled as he started to clear the table and Daniel got out of his seat and kissed Rachel on the top of her head before going out to the front porch and apparating to work. I got up and turned to Rachel, "Well I have some charms to take off my room. Would you like to see my dress and things for the ball?" Rachel smiled and nodded,

"Later though, I have some errands to run in town and I need to get some shopping done or we won't have anything for James to clear up at lunch." James poked his tongue out at Rachel and she laughed at him. As soon as she left the room to get dressed James turned to me,

"Well done Prince, not only did you slice Sirius' head open but you managed to get us punished for it!" James shook his head and glared at me.

"I did not slice his head open, no matter what you told Daniel. He got a tiny cut from a harmless hex, which wouldn't even have happened if you idiots hadn't sent me Bubotuber pus, it was hardly even bleeding; not exactly life threatening and you threw me down the stairs, I was unconscious! It isn't really much of a punishment anyway, so you aren't allowed to hex me and you have to respect my privacy, big deal! You're a big boy now Potter, grow up!" We were standing glaring at each other, both clutching our wands when Rachel came back into the room,

"Good to see we're off to a good start. I was just about to leave." As she stepped outside and summoned our wands from our hands, "Just in case this escalates or you get tempted." Since she and Daniel didn't know and weren't going to find out about my wandless magic abilities this gave me the excuse I wanted to not remove the charms on my room.

The next couple of days were better, Rachel hadn't given our wands back but she had 'allowed' me to use mine to take the charms down. James, Sirius and I had all been behaving and sticking to the ground rules Daniel and Rachel had laid down, because that's what they were; Sirius and James could complain about their punishment all the liked, I knew that wasn't what it was.

It was late morning on Christmas eve and Rachel and I were in the kitchen making soup and Christmas cakes, while we were waiting for the cakes to bake we sat and had a cup of coffee, we'd run out of things to talk about and I remember something, "Do you want to come up and see my dress while these are baking?" Rachel nodded and we went up to my room where my dress was hanging on my wardrobe door.

"Oh Cass, it's beautiful. Where did you find it?" I grinned at her, glad she liked it,

"Madame Malkin's, it's a new little shop in Diagon Alley. Druella takes Bella, Cissy and Andy there. She does school uniforms as well; she's cheaper than Twilfitt and Tattings _and_ her stuff is much better quality. I think she'll do rather well with her little shop, especially with people like Druella and Walburga shopping there; soon all the purebloods will be queuing out the door." I glanced at Rachel and noticed the frown she was wearing but, since we were getting on so well, I chose to ignore it, "The dress, jewellery and shoes only cost a hundred and seventy-five galleons, I would have paid at least twice that much in Twilfitt." Rachel smiled but it was the tight kind of smile that one would wear when trying not to let disapproval show through,

"It's lovely, I'm sure you'll be the belle of the ball in this." I sighed,

"Merlin forbid; Bella's announcing her engagement to Rudolphus Lestrange tomorrow night. It wouldn't do to outshine her for that." Rachel chuckled and nodded that I was right. "Would be it okay if I went to Diagon Alley this afternoon? I know I was helping you but I need to pick up a couple of things for tomorrow." Rachel sighed but said it would be fine for me to go, "It should only take a couple of hours. I'll floo if I'm going to be longer." She did that tight smile again and I could see she wasn't happy about my plans,

"That's fine, have a nice time." I smirked to myself after she'd left to check on the cakes, I had been expecting her to argue with me about it. I pulled my boots on and headed down to the fireplace.

I flooed to the Leakey Cauldron and then from there I went on to the address in Spinner's End. Reggie and I had exchanged a number of letters which ultimately lead him to succeeding in convincing me to come to a small get together before the following night's festivities, where parents would be in attendance. I couldn't pretend that I wasn't disappointed that Andromeda wasn't coming, but I'd have Reggie and Severus so I was sure it would turn out all right.

When I climbed out of the, rather small, fireplace I wasn't totally convinced I was in the right place; this didn't look like the sort of place any of my fellow Slytherins would be caught dead. I was in a small kitchen, meaning there wasn't a fireplace in any of the reception rooms. The kitchen itself was dank and the cabinets might have been fashionable sometime in the forties but now they were yellowing and the Formica was peeling away from the doors and countertops. I was about to turn back to the fire and floo back to Diagon Alley when Reggie stumbled into the room, clutching an empty bottle of butterbeer. He grinned when he saw me, dropped the bottle and dragged me into the other room; where the party was happening.

I took a deep breath when I looked around at the other guests; both Black sisters; Bella was three years older than me and sitting in the lap of Rudolphus Lestrange who was Bella's another fiancé and another year older. Narcissa was two years younger than me and sitting on a sofa trying desperately to gain the attention of Lucius Malfoy, who was in James and Sirius' year. I knew it was just because Bellatrix had suggested it to Narcissa that she would make a good match in Lucius rather than because the younger girl had any interest in the boy, Andy had also informed me that Cissa was worried about Bella leaving her behind when she got married.

There were a few others at the party; Rudolphus' brother Rabastan; two years older than me and sitting in an armchair nursing a glass of clear liquid which I would bet wasn't water, and leering at Narcissa in a way that made me want to put my arms around the girl and not let go until she was out of this room full of drunken older boys.

It was a relief to see Severus sitting at the small dining table, he was playing cards with two thickset boys who introduced themselves as Crabbe and Goyle; I wasn't given first names and judging from the look of them I wasn't going to try to get any.

There were a couple more people dotted around the room, which was surprisingly dark considering it was the middle of the day. Regulus sat down on the sofa next to Narcissa and start up a conversation with Lucius and the group of girls who were taking his attention away from Narcissa, the girl was in the middle of the conversation but being completely ignored. I wandered over to Severus' card game and was dealt into the next hand, even though I wasn't really sure what we were playing; Severus was helping me on the sly and the two boys weren't the brightest and didn't notice what was happening.

It had been a couple of hours and Severus and I had gotten bored of taking the other two boys' money and had moved to the circle of chatter in the sitting room. I turned to Reg, who was next to me on a sofa, "Where are we anyways? Doesn't 'look like the sort of place you lot would usually choose to party." It was Lucius who answered me,

"It's Sev's house, of course; he's the only one of us who doesn't have parents constantly around to keep watch on us. Pretty great life if you ask me." He turned back to the girl perched on the arm of his chair and started sweet-talking her again; she was soon giggling and flirting. Severus grunted in response to Lucius' comment, which made me think that he disagreed with his sentiments.

"Well then Severus, would it be possible for me to use your fire to floo the Potters? I told them I'd only be gone a couple of hours. Just need to tell that I've run into some friends and will be back later." Bellatrix and Crabbe snickered,

"Need to mummy and daddy that you're safe?" Narcissa and the Lestranges joined in the laughter, Severus just regarded them all coldly and told me that the fire was in the kitchen and came to show me where he kept the floo powder.

"Thanks Sev, I'll be back through in a minute." He nodded and waited until I'd called the Potters' house before he turned and went back to the party.

It only took a moment before Rachel appeared in front of the fireplace at the other end, "Is anything wrong Cass?"

"No, I told you I'd floo if I was going to be longer than I'd thought and I've run into some friends; I'll be back late so there's no need to wait up for me." Rachel frowned; this hadn't been our agreement.

"I thought you were just going to pick up a couple of things."

"Well I was but then I ran into Severus and some other so I'm going back to Sev's with them for a bit. I'll be back tonight, don't worry. Besides, it means you don't have to be so careful when you wrapping up all my presents." I smiled and winked at her,

"Well, okay then. You better be back before midnight though. I want you here for the morning." I nodded and pulled my head out of the fire with a roll of my eyes.

Back in Severus' kitchen I nearly jumped a mile when Lucius spoke from behind me, "Such a shame, I was so enjoying the view." He smirked at me and for some reason I found it rather appealing, instead of repulsive.

"You scared me Lucius!" I had a hand over my heart, as if to stop it beating so hard against my ribcage, I let out a long breath and small chuckle and stood before Lucius, who was still smirking at me.

"Sorry about that Cass, you know I would never scare you on purpose right?" he pouted his bottom lip out and I couldn't help but laugh at him,

"Of course you wouldn't Luc." I laughed again and pushed him lightly on the shoulder. The look that came into his eyes made me nervous and I stuttered, "W- we should get back to the party before anyone misses us." Lucius rolled his eyes but stayed firmed planted between me and the door,

"You mean before Sev missed you." I smiled but shook my head at him,

"Actually I was thinking more of how much Narcissa will be missing you, she'll come hunt you down if you're away too long. Her finding you in here with me would ruin everything, don't you agree?" Lucius frowned; clearly not understanding what I was talking about, I smirked at him and brushed past him and went back into the sitting room.

"Mummy and daddy letting you stay a bit longer are they?"

"They aren't my parents. My parents are dead." That shut Bellatrix up, she wasn't used to people talking back to her. Narcissa picked up in her sister's silence,

"Well your _mother_ is dead, but who's your father?" I shrugged,

"How should I know? I never met him, did I? I was just left for the Potters when my mother died. I reckon he left her long before that though, probably when he found out she was going to have me. As far as I'm concerned he was scum who didn't care enough about my mother to stick around." No one spoke for a while; everyone else in the room had two parents and at least one sibling, I was the oddball for not having either of those. If they'd had a bit more to drink they would start asking questions like 'what's it like to not have any family?' and saying things like 'I can't imagine not having a brother or sister, I mean I hate mine but I couldn't imagine not having them' usually in a shocked, disbelieving voice; it had happened before.

Everyone was sitting trying to find something to say to fill the awkward silence I'd created, it seemed that not even Bellatrix could find anything to say in that situation. After a minute, that felt more like an hour, Lucius came back through brandishing an armful of bottle of fire whisky, "Sev's been holding out on us!" he was grinning, not bothering to pay attention to the tension in the room. The rest of us were all grateful that he'd saved us from the awkwardness of the last conversation; I stood up from where I'd been sitting on the floor with a grin and took one of the bottles.

He snatched it out of my reach and motioned for me to join him the armchair he'd just kicked a couple of girls out of, I frowned and tried to get the bottle but I couldn't reach and ended up tumbling gracelessly into his lap anyway. He chuckled and handed me the bottle, I took a long drink before I noticed the glares coming from both the Black sisters, I tried to shuffle and reposition myself but Lucius used the hand that had been resting on my hip to keep my in place. I shrugged internally and took the bottle back from him and took another greedy gulp before laying my head on his chest, he seemed to be satisfied with that as his grip on my hip loosened; probably enough for me to move off his lap, but it was comfy…

**A/N: So I know it's been a while since I updated (not counting the last one) so I thought I'd get another one ready and upload it.. Hoping that it'll keep the few readers I have interested in the story.. Anyway, let me know what you think of the story so far, even if you hate it! I'd rather know. **

**Also, for anyone who's interested, I'm working on the next chapter of Riley's Boy but it's taking longer that I'd expected because I don't know what to do now :P **

**Hollie. **


	5. Chapter 5

I'd had too much to drink, I knew it and so did everyone else. At quarter past eleven Severus pulled me up from Lucius' lap, which we both protested to, and led me back to his fireplace, "Stand still." He kept hold of my arm in one hand and pulled his wand out with the other,

"What'cha gunna do Sevvy?" he rolled his eyes at me before waving his wand, my head cleared straight away and I blushed, "Sorry about that… I'll just… go." Severus nodded and retrieved the pouch of floo powder,

"Be careful in the network, I don't want you getting lost the night before Christmas!" I smirked at him,

"I'm a big girl now Severus, I think I can handle the floo network." Severus smiled,

"I see my little charm has worked its magic. I'll see you at the Ball." I nodded but stumbled when I moved, apparently the charm either was just designed to make you appear sober, or it wasn't quite perfect yet. Knowing Severus I would have put money of the former.

When I stumbled out the other end, I lacked my usual grace and fell to my knees and promptly threw up on the hearthrug. I winced when I heard the floo chime go off to announce my arrival, I looked up as the door opened and saw the pleased smile slip right off her face when she saw me there. She rushed to my side looking concerned but as soon as she knelt down next to me she could smell the fire whisky on my breath and leant back on her heals, "Oh Cass, I thought we were starting to get through to you." I looked up at her and tried to apologise but as soon as I opened my mouth I threw up again. "James, Daniel could you come help me please?" I groaned as they came into the room, she looked at James, "Could you please carry her upstairs?"

James nodded and lifted me, one arm around my back and the other under my legs; he put my arms around his neck but let my head loll down to my chest; not wanting my sick to get on his shirt. I heard Rachel send Daniel to get a towel and a cold compress. "Couldn't you just have levitated her? She weighs a tonne." I heard Rachel's sigh behind us,

"I didn't want to start her off being sick again." I didn't need to see James' reaction to see it; he was rolling his eyes as he tried not to breathe through his nose, although I wouldn't have thought breathing through his mouth would be that much better.

Once they got me into bed Daniel arrived with the towel, cold compress and a bucket, "Cass, if you need to be sick do it in the bucket, okay?" I think I might have nodded, not that it mattered because seconds later I threw up on my bed. I noticed Sirius standing in the doorway with a strange frown on his face, I might have tried to ask him what the matter was but if I did they wouldn't have understood what I was saying.

"Maybe we should've put her in the bath, that way she won't cover everything in sick." I imagine Rachel glared at him, she sent him away to get a dreamless sleep potion while she cleaned me and my bed up a little.

I must have fallen asleep during the cleaning process because I woke up in the morning and there was still a potion bottle next to the bed; it was too much to hope for that it would be a hangover reliever. Rachel was sleeping next to me, I sat up and immediately regretted it, I groaned as the room started spinning. My groan must have woken Rachel because she stirred next to me, once she realised where she was she got out of bed and looked at me, "I'm so disappointed with you Cassandra." I looked down at my hands; I hadn't been thinking when I was sitting drinking in Lucius' lap the night before.

"I'm sorry."

"Well I'm afraid that isn't really good enough. I was so pleased when you started acting like your old self again, then you pull something like that. Well I can tell you something, you will not be seeing anyone, or going anywhere until you have to leave for the train." My mouth dropped open, I hadn't been expecting that; Rachel had never been the one to dish out punishments, it was always Daniel and he was never that harsh. I ignored the nausea that washed over me when I stood up, ignored the dizziness that made me want to crawl back into my bed and stay there, I stood up to my full height and looked Rachel in the eyes,

"Try and stop me." I could see Rachel was shocked by what I'd said; I'd never spoken to her like that before, Daniel yes, but never her. Whenever she'd been angry at me before I'd always been apologetic and she would usually give in and not punish me or tell Daniel.

I stormed out of my bedroom, slamming the bathroom door on my way in. I stood over the sink and studied my reflection in the mirror; my hair was matted with sick in places and my eye make-up was smeared down my face as if I'd been crying, which I probably had been. In that moment I hated that I resembled the Potter family; I had dark hair like everyone on Daniel's side, I had blue eyes like Rachel, I had the same love for pranks and mischief as James had inherited from many of his relatives, and the same disregard for rules that Daniel's mother had. I was very much like the Potters but I could never be one of them, never again.

It infuriated me that people thought I was really part of their family; Daniel's friends from the ministry would come round and when they met us they would all seem surprised when they saw me, some would just politely ignore it- me, but some would mention it. They would say things like "I didn't know you had a daughter as well as James" and there would always be an uncomfortable silence while someone tried to think of something to say. I flung my hand out and smashed the mirror before getting into the scalding hot shower.

When I was finished in the shower I went back to my bedroom and shut and locked the door, not caring about the 'ground rules' anymore. I turned my music up as loud as I could and just sat in the middle of my floor, wondering what to do next. It was around lunchtime when I finally moved, I picked up my things for the ball and snuck out of my room; the rest of them would all be in the dining room enjoying their family Christmas Eve lunch, I tiptoed into the living room and flooed straight into Andromeda's bedroom. When I stepped out and said hello she jumped a mile. "What're you doing here? You are aware that the ball is at Reggie's place and it doesn't start til five?" I nodded and dropped my things onto Andy's bed,

"I told him I'd be there at three, as per tradition. I thought we could get ready together."

"Sure, but Bella and Cissy will be joining us." I groaned at the news that Andy's sisters wold be getting ready with us,

"I know that groan. Cass, what did you do?" I flopped down onto the couch in the corner of her room and curled up into a ball, Andromeda sat down next to my feet and laid a hand on my leg, "Well? What happened? I just groaned again at first but after a minute of collecting myself I stretched out on my back, putting my legs across Andy's,

"They were at Sev's last night and when I got there Narcissa was trying to get Lucius' attention, as always. I was playing cards with Sev, Crabbed and Goyle and because I'd told Rachel that I'd only be a couple of hours I needed to floo her and tell her I'd be home late. So I did that and Lucius was in the kitchen when I came out of the fire, he made me jump out of my skin and he made some flirty little comment so I said something about going back to the party and left him there. Then he came through about ten minutes later with some fire whisky, and I ended up sitting on his lap and sharing his bottle." I saw Andy's disapproving look and looked away, "Nothing happened though; I just got glared at A LOT by your sisters." Andy shook her head,

"No wonder you were getting glared at, the plan is for Cissa to marry Lucius as soon as she finished Hogwarts, or maybe before. She's been trying to catch his eye for months now." I pulled a cushion over my face and mumbled apologies into the sofa, claiming not to know anything about Bella's master plan, "Well good luck for tonight then. And no drinking tonight, okay?"

"I don't plan on drinking anything for a long, long time."

After I'd been there for about an hour Narcissa and Bellatrix came through to Andy's room, which was the biggest bedroom of the three, with all their things for the ball. Bellatrix looked at me with hate in her eyes, but that was nothing compared to the look I was getting from Narcissa. I didn't realise a fourteen-year-old girl could hate someone so much. We all started getting ready in silence, no one wanted to say anything and risk an outburst from Bellatrix, who was clearly enraged about something- and we all knew what. After about twenty minutes Narcissa tentatively asked, "Bellatrix could you do my hair for me? You're so much better at it than me." Bellatrix nodded and shoved her onto the stool in front of Andy's vanity and started pulling at her hair and pinning it, it all looked rather painful but I have to admit when Narcissa stood her hair looked amazing,

"Don't look so shocked Prince, I mean I know you could never even hope to look as good as my baby sister but you could at least try to hide your jealousy. Green really isn't your colour." Andromeda and I both picked up on the double meaning behind her words, Andy shot me a look that clearly told me not to engage with Bella but I ignored it.

"I don't know what you mean Bellatrix; I'm just as much a Slytherin as you are." Bellatrix regarded me with a cold eye before snorting and turning to step into her dress. It was black and gothic in style, it had a tight boned bodice which Andromeda laced up at the back and pulled tight for her, the bottom of the dress reached the floor, at the top of the bodice there was thin black lace to cover her shoulders, chest and arms. It looked stunning on her.

Narcissa's dress was pale blue with thick off the shoulder straps and a sweetheart neckline, the bodice was fitted and the skirt went out at her hips and fell to her knees. It was the perfect dress for her. She looked like the fourteen-year-old she was, rather than trying to look older than she was, as she'd been doing the night before. I figured that probably had something to do with her parents being here tonight.

Andromeda finished doing my make-up and sat down so I could return the favour. I used black mascara to lengthen her lashes and thick black eyeliner, I used dark grey eye shadow to give Andromeda a dark smoky eye that would made the blue of her eyes stand out. I used a charm to make sure her make up would stay in place all night. I styled her hair into loose curls and caught half of it in a silver barrette at the back of her head.

When I was done a moved over to the mirror to see what she had done for me, I had similar make-up to Andromeda but the eyeliner was a thinner line, and the eye shadow she used was a pale shimmery colour. She hadn't done anything to my hair, I'd asked her to just leave it natural; I liked how it usually fell, it naturally fell into the sort of loose curls I'd charmed into Andy's hair.

Bellatrix had her hair up in a simple bun at the back of her head with some loose strands falling around her face. Narcissa's was pinned up in a complicated but elegantly casual way, which I'd never seen done before and wouldn't even had thought possible.

When we were all ready we put our cloaks over our arms; Druella would be waiting by the fireplace to approve our choices of dress. I was nervous, Druella had a tendency to treat me like she did her own daughters, which meant harsh criticism and, if she didn't approve, the hideous back-up dress she kept waiting in the wings. As we lined up in front of the fireplace waiting for Druella's judgement Bellatrix sent me a smirk, clearly thinking that I would be handed the back-up dress, the dress I'd chosen wasn't really what people wore to the Black's ball; it was usually all blacks, greens, blues, even purples, but never _red_ and never more than one colour- not including any accents in the dress.

Druella went to Narcissa first, "Nice choice of dress Narcissa, I'm sure Lucius will not be able to keep his eyes off you tonight. Good job with her hair Bellatrix; it's perfect." Bellatrix nodded at her mother, clearly pleased that her mother was happy with the job she'd done. Druella moved to stand in front of Andromeda and was looking over her dress and hair carefully, "Also a nice choice of dress, I'm sure we will be able to find someone suitable for you tonight Andromeda. I don't fully understand why you haven't found anyone yet." I subtly grabbed Andy's hand and shot her a look, begging her not to mention Ted Tonks to her mother. She either understood my look, or wasn't planning on mentioning it anyway; she nodded,

"Thank you, mother. None of the boys at school interest me; I'm waiting to find a man who can meet my needs." Druella was clearly pleased with this reaction and moved on to Bellatrix, who had somehow wound up between Andy and me.

"This is a lovely dress and it suits you Bellatrix, but you are going to a Christmas ball, not the funeral of a loved one. You shouldn't be so afraid to show some skin, you need to watch Rudolphus doesn't lose interest in you; it would be a terrible shame if he were to go after someone who didn't dress so conservatively." That was a first for me, I'd never heard of a mother who would tell their daughter to wear less. I felt bad for Bellatrix, she looked stunning and her mother had just shot her down, I didn't say anything though; I was nervous enough about being judged by Druella, I didn't need to put myself on her bad side.

"Sorry mother, I had thought you would approve of this dress, I thought it would mean that Rudolphus wouldn't have a reason to be jealous of any attention from other men." Druella nodded,

"This is true, now that you have explained your reasoning it seem to be the perfect dress for you." I didn't think that the dress would stop any of the men there tonight staring a Bellatrix but that seemed to be good enough for Druella to give her approval. "Now Cassandra, I have been eagerly anticipating seeing the dress you have selected for the evening, you have always seemed to show so much taste in your clothes." I blushed at the older woman's compliment, it was a rare thing and all three of the Black sisters glared at me for it. I decided not to mention to Druella that most of my clothes were from muggle shops. "My dear, this dress is stunning; a brave choice for a ball such as this one but it is stunning, none the less" She sounded more like Rachel Potter than the cruel woman she was known to be, "it will certainly get you the attentions of the men tonight, a fine choice."

"Thank you Mrs Black, that means so much to me." The four of us swung our cloaks over our shoulders to protect our dresses from the floo network. Narcissa went first, followed by Andromeda. I was about to follow when Bellatrix caught hold of my arm and leant in close to my face,

"Stay away from Malfoy tonight, you might be able to claim you weren't aware of our plans for him last night, but I have no doubt that by now Andromeda will have informed you that we intend for him to be with Narcissa. It has been hard enough for her to keep his attention, a boy three years older than her. She does not need you there distracting him." I yanked my arm away from her but didn't back away,

"I can speak with whomever I choose. If Narcissa wants to marry him then she will just have to try harder. It isn't my fault that Lucius wants to have a relationship with someone nearer his own age, much less that he wants to be in a relationship that isn't morally wrong."

"You stay away from him Prince, of I'll make sure the rest of your time at that school is miserable." I took another step towards her and lowered my voice,

"Just try it Bella. It might have been your school once, but it's mine now. You can't do anything to me." With that I turned back to the fireplace and threw my floo powder into the flames, the last thing I saw before I started spinning away to Grimmauld Place was Bellatrix looking ready to kill.

When I stepped out of the fireplace at the other end I immediately set off for the bathroom. I locked myself in, braced myself on the sides of the sink and took some deep breaths, I knew the only way to gain Bellatrix's respect or even just to get her to lay off was to stand up to her like I'd just done but that wasn't me and I hated it, I also hated that acting like that had some so easily to me. Now that I was out of the heat of the moment I realised how ridiculous what I'd said had been; the school wasn't mine, wasn't even close to being mine. If anything it belonged to the marauders and Lily Evans and her friends.

I'd decided back in my first year that I was going to do whatever I had to in order to be respected in Slytherin, but I had never anticipated that behaving like that would come so naturally to me.

After a couple of minutes I managed to compose myself and unlocked the door, I jumped when I found Andromeda right outside, "What's up with you Cass?" I smiled,

"I had to check my hair for ash, I forgot to put my hood up before I flooed." Andy rolled her eyes with a smile and led the way back to the ballroom, where we would be left alone until the adults started to arrive at five o'clock. The rest of the 'kids' would start to arrive at four but we liked to get here early, and Druella liked to have the house to herself while she was getting ready.

Regulus greeted us all with hugs and offered us all something to drink from the bar, both of us noticed the look Andy sent my way and she chuckled and offered me some unspiked punch. We spent the next half an hour sitting in the living room and talking about unimportant things, what we'd been doing in our holidays so far, discussing how embarrassing and annoying parent could be, talking about how pointless they felt school was when they were already at a level that their professors couldn't even dream of reaching. I joined in the conversation and was enjoying myself, despite feeling guilty about how I'd spoken to Rachel that morning and how I'd behaved when the Potters had trusted me.

When people started to arrive at about half past three, their parents wanted them out of the house early so that they could start the pre-pre-dinner drinks, we all moved back into the ballroom. One of the first to arrive was Lucius Malfoy, who greeted all of us girls with a light hug, Narcissa was the first to be greeted and Bellatrix smiled encouragingly at the hug but that slipped off her face when he moved to hug Andromeda, herself and then me. I couldn't help but smirk at her; I blame the Slytherin in me. When he got to me he kissed me on each cheek and stood next to me, Narcissa looked close to tears and Bellatrix looked like she was about to attack me. I was extremely grateful that Regulus seemed to pick up on his cousin's mood and pulled Lucius away to get a 'proper drink'.

Once Lucius was out of earshot Bellatrix glared at me and said in a menacing voice, "I told you not to go near him. Your reign over Hogwarts is over Prince." My eyes widened a little before I could help it, but I quickly schooled my features into a much more appropriate look and said in just as cold a voice,

"Do your worst Black." At which point Severus silently appeared and took Lucius' previous place next to me, meaning that Lucius would have to stand next to someone else. Bellatrix and I continued to glare at each other, in a sort of stand-off, until she made a frustrated noise and hissed at Narcissa to follow her and stalked off towards the bathroom. I let a satisfied smirk cross my face and smiled when Lucius raised his glass in my direction with an impressed look on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

I started to relax as more of the guests started to arrive, by half past five I started to enjoy myself as Bellatrix was expected to socialise and listen to the scores of guests congratulating her on her engagement to Rudolphus and enthusing how luck the Lestrange family was to get such a good match for him. Every now and then I when I glanced around the hall Bellatrix would catch my eye and her words would come back to me, especially when she saw me talking to Lucius. Despite the glares from Bellatrix I spent more time with Lucius and realised that I was starting to fall for him, in spite of my best efforts not to. No matter what I said or how I acted, in reality Bellatrix terrified me.

I was dancing with Regulus when everyone stopped and the hall went silent, even the band stopped playing. I didn't know what was going on and panicked as Regulus tensed, over my head at something behind me, wands were being drawn around me. Andromeda was wearing the same panicked look I was sure was on my face. It felt like a long time had passed before I turned around, really it could only have been a matter of seconds, to see what was causing the disturbance. As soon as I did I realised why everyone was so tense, he'd told me he was going to be attending but I never thought he would actually show up.

Everyone turned in unison to see how Orion was going to react, Regulus and Andromeda looked like they thought he was likely to explode with rage at the nerve of Sirius. Bellatrix seemed to be thinking the same thing because she was watching with an amused smirk on her face, after all everyone knew that inviting Sirius was just a formality and for him to arrive with James Potter of all people, was just asking for trouble.

Everyone in the hall was shocked when Orion stepped up and greeted Sirius with a nod of the head and a handshake; as warm a welcome as any pureblood son could expect from their father. Most of the guests seemed outraged but none of them looked as angry as Bellatrix, but there was nothing to be done about it when Orion signalled for the band to start playing again and pulled Walburga out onto the dance flood, others started to join them and soon the party was back in swing again. Sirius and James ignored all of the glares and headed straight for the bar.

I lost sight of them after a while and sighed before heading to the bar. Since they'd arrived I'd been so tense; just waiting for them to do something to ruin the night, or even just for them to try and speak to me. I was just sitting waiting to be served when Lucius slid into the chair next to me. "What are you doing over here all alone, Miss Prince?" I turned and looked at him with a small smile,

"Why the formality Lucius? Don't you think we're a little bit pat that, after I spent most of the afternoon in your lap yesterday?" Lucius smirked at me,

"I suppose you're right, aren't you Cassandra? Were mummy and daddy Potter pleased that you got home early? Severus told me he sent you through the floo at quarter past eleven, forty-five minutes early. A record for you I do believe. I felt my face flush and rolled my eyes at him,

"They were pleased when they first saw me, until I threw up on the hearth rug, and then in bed. Yeah they weren't too pleased with me really." I smiled and hoped he wasn't attentive enough to notice the sadness in my eyes as I stared at my drink, "And that, among other reasons, it why I'm not drinking tonight, or for a very long time after." From what I could remember of our conversations the day before he knew I was desperate to be accepted by the Potters, I knew he didn't understand and only thought of them as blood traitors.

When I looked back up at Lucius he was grinning at me, I narrowed my eyes at him about to ask why he was looking so happy when he pulled me out of my seat and with a laugh I followed him onto the dance floor. We danced for about an hour and a half, fending off other offers and talking and laughing the whole time, until Narcissa cut in shooting a glare at me and not giving either of us a choice about whether or not Lucius would dance with her.

I needed to take a break anyway so I headed over to get a glass of water before going to stand by the french doors leading to the balcony overlooking the vast gardens of the house. I caught sight of Sirius heading in my direction and James watching me with a disapproving look on his face. I panicked but by the time I'd noticed him there was nothing I could do to avoid him, he'd gotten too close too quickly. "Prince." he nodded in greeting but I narrowed my eyes at him and didn't reciprocate; I didn't trust him.

"Before you start Black, I don't want to hear anything you could possibly have to say to me, so save your breath." I started to walk away, over to where I could see Andromeda and Reggie watching us, but Sirius stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

"Why were you dancing with Malfoy?" I was caught off guard by how genuinely concerned he sounded; it reminded me of the friendship we could have had if my sorting had gone differently. I looked down, unable to bear the kind expression on his face. When I spoke my voice was quiet, almost a whisper;

"Why are you doing this Sirius?" I glanced up when he didn't speak and saw that he looked confused, my voice got stronger as I got angrier that he didn't understand what he was doing to me. "Why are you acting all concerned for me now that no one else is around? You've spent the last five years being a complete prick, and now that I've finally accepted that nothing it going to change with the way that you and James think of me, you come up to me and make me think there's still a chance things _could_ still be different. But we both know that as soon as we get back to school, or even as soon as you're back with your friends, I'll go back to being the Slytherin disappointment and you'll go back to being the Gryffindor bad boy with a grudge against me for something that wasn't my fault." He was looking at me with this stupid shocked expression on his face and I was surprised to see that he was blurred around the edges, I furiously wiped the tears from my eyes and glared at him.

"I'm sorry Cassandra, I didn't realise you felt like that. But I really am worried about you. I know you'll hate me for saying it but you changed when you were sorted, and when you started to be like you used to be I thought we could be good again. James told me what happened with Rachel this morning-"

"I don't need to hear this from you again Black, you've been shouting it at me for five years now. Do you think I don't understand or something? Because I didn't change until I didn't have any other choice, I would have been eaten alive in the Slytherin common room if I hadn't. So don't you go telling me I've changed when it your and Potter's fault in the first place!"

"How can you blame me and James? We thought you wanted to be in Gryffindor, we thought you wanted to be one of us. When you were sorted we just needed time to come to terms with it." Sirius looked like he was starting to get frustrated and that just made me more angry with him, what did he have to be frustrated about? "I didn't come over here to fight with you Cass, I just wanted to warn you not to get too close to Malfoy, its dangerous. These people, they aren't your friends, you think you know them but remember; I lived with them for sixteen years, I know what they're really like. I just wanted to tell you to be careful, think carefully before you get too involved with Malfoy, or any of them. Bellatrix is dangerous when she doesn't get what she wants and what she wants is for Cissy to marry Malfoy, and she'll do anything to make that happen. You will be nothing more than an obstacle in her path."

He walked away, leaving me to try and figure out what he'd been trying to achieve, the only thing I could come up with was that he was trying to make me paranoid about the people around me, to make me question everything they did and said; to make me miserable again.

I turned to face the room again and felt the blood rush to my face; most of the people in the room had clearly been watching the exchange between Sirius and me. They were watching me waiting to see how I was going to react.

I took a deep breath and scanned the room for Andromeda or Regulus, instead I caught sight of Lucius pushing Narcissa away and coming towards me, despite Narcissa's efforts to keep him attention. When I saw the tears welling up in the young girl's eyes I felt guilty and turned back to the doors and went out onto the balcony. "What did he want?" I didn't jump at the sound of Lucius' voice but sighed at the feeling of his hand on my back as he stepped up beside me.

"I don't think we can do this Lucius." I said this knowing that it would confuse him, "I kind of get the feeling that you like me as more that a friend right?" he nodded but I continued before he could say anything, "Well I like you too, so its pretty likely that something will happen between us," he nodded again, "but that's not the plan that everyone else has in mind, they'll make things difficult. Merlin, Bellatrix would probably even make it dangerous." Lucius actually looked upset by that, I hadn't been expecting that from him.

"Are you telling me that you would rather me be with someone else? You're willing to ignore your own feelings for those of another?" I nodded and sniffled a little, "Cassandra Prince, you really are something else. How can Bellatrix think you're weak? Weakness is the way that we all step over one another to get what we want." I was shocked at the way he was looking at me, the way he was talking to me; this wasn't the Lucius Malfoy I knew from school, that Lucius was cold and cruel and would never admit to a weakness. He didn't speak to people in the tender tone he'd been using. I knew what was going to happen next but didn't stop it; he kissed me, just a short kiss but there was so much feeling behind it. When he pulled back I whispered into his lips,

"Everyone gets a little weak sometimes." I smiled when he closed the space between us again and when our lips met for the second time I melted into him before I responded. My arms snaked up around his neck and my fingers twisted themselves into the silky locks of his hair.

**AN: Such a long time since I update this! Apologies to anyone out there who is still reading this :P and if you are still reading thank you and let me know what you thought :) **

**Hollie.**


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